This turned out way longer than I thought it would, but this story is really rolling with me right now. The reviews I got from the prologue helped, they really inspire me too. I can never have enough inspiration, so please review! I'll love you forever! I really need to know how I'm doing with this, because this is very different than what I'm used to, so I really need some feedback. Please and thanks!

Disclaimer: Me no own.

Chapter 1

Mitchie scowled as she stared out of the window at the light rain that was pouring in the state of New Jersey. The drive from Baltimore to Denise Gray's hometown in New Jersey was a little over four hours, and Mitchie was fucking sick of sitting in a car. Denise had tried to make conversation, but Mitchie wasn't willing. She wasn't all too thrilled to be leaving her own city in the first place. She had the perfect connections back in Baltimore, could get whatever the hell she wanted when she wanted. But she was desperate to get away from that apartment, from the smells and just the feel of the place.

And she was fucking tired of getting shot.

Her shoulder was still sore, and still had the gauze wrapped on it, and her arm was stuck in one of those damn slings. She'd ditch it the first chance she got, when Denise wasn't looking. It was probably gonna suck being stuck with a doctor all the time, but it would sure as hell save her a lot of trouble. She was always finding some way to get shot or stabbed. It didn't help that most of the people she hung out with were gangs that were always high or drunk on something. That might be avoidable though, because from the looks of it there weren't any gangs in this lame ass town. They'd all be up in the big cities where the turf was actually worth fighting for.

For a second Mitchie entertained the thought of there being no gangs. No random drive-by's, no guns going off in the middle of the night keeping her from falling asleep. No having to worry about running into the wrong color and getting into some serious trouble.

It was such a foreign thought. She had grown up around gangs, and even though she was never formally apart of one, she associated with them. Mainly Brian's, especially after they hooked up for the first time. She knew if she had ever gotten herself into trouble with another gang, Brian would always have her back. It had always been a comforting thought, to know that she had ten guys protecting her and watching out for her.

She didn't have that anymore. No protection. Not that she needed it, she wouldn't be wandering into a rival gang anytime soon. They hardly ever left Baltimore unless they had to. And they wouldn't want to come after her unless they epically wanted to piss off Brian, but they had better things to do, more serious issues to deal with than trying to start a war for no good reason.

"We're getting close, the boys shouldn't be home, but you'll get to meet my husband, Paul."

Yeah, not only did she have to lose her connections in her city, but now she had to live with this doctor and her stupid family. Despite Mitchie's unwillingness to talk to Denise, she had no problem with talking Mitchie's fucking ear off. Mitchie tried to block it out, but it was so irritating, and some of it stuck with her.

Like the fact that she had three boys. One of them her age, Nate, she remembered Denise telling her. He sounded like a total dork. All of them did.

The middle one was named Shane, and he was nineteen. Was living with his parents while he went to college so he could save money and not have to live in a dorm or whatever.

Jason was the oldest one at twenty-three, and he lived in his own house a few blocks away with his wife, Danielle.

They all sounded fucking lame to Mitchie. Mama's boys it seemed with the way Denise was talking about them. She would bet that they were all total dweebs. She didn't even know them and she resented them already. They grew up with a perfect life. Didn't have to deal with their mom getting drunk or high, or whether she would bring home some beefy dude who had seen too many bottles of whiskey. No, they had it made, and it pissed Mitchie off.

What made them so fucking special? And why had Mitchie been left to rot in that damn apartment?

But then she reminded herself that Denise had saved her from that, and that she wasn't in that apartment anymore, and that she never had to go back.

That made her bite back some of her resentment. She didn't have to go with Denise. She had been given a choice, and she had chosen the one that would get her out of that living hell. Now she was going to have to deal with the changes. If things went bad she could always go back. But nothing could be worse than going back. She was sure of that. If the worse thing she had to do was put up with a bunch of dorks then she would be fine. She could easily take down a bunch of nerds if she had to. But she knew better than to get on people's bad sides. No matter who they were.

Just a few minutes later and Denise was pulling her SUV into the driveway of a nice sized house in the middle of what seemed like a quiet neighborhood. Of course, it was all different from where Mitchie came from and she wasn't sure what to make of it. It was so completely opposite of the world she grew up in.

It was still raining when she stepped out of the car, but she didn't care, it was just fucking water. She didn't know why people made such a big deal of getting umbrellas unless you used them to beat the shit out of somebody.

As soon as she stepped out of the car, a man came sauntering out of the front door of the house, whom Mitchie assumed to be Paul, Denise's husband. She was cautious as he approached her, she had grown up knowing that anyone could be dangerous, but then she felt stupid, because obviously she wasn't in Baltimore, and the rules she had grown up by didn't apply anymore. He looked friendly enough, he had a warm smile, and his eyes held no hardness in them. She wasn't used to seeing someone who was genuinely friendly. Even Brian never had that look about him.

"Hi," He said over the rain. "You must be Mitchie. I'm Paul, it's nice to meet you." He stuck his hand out and Mitchie just stared at it. No way was she going to touch him. She was still iffy about this whole thing to begin with.

Paul understood and immediately retracted his hand. His warm smile still planted on his face. "Come on, let's get out of this rain, I'll show you where your room is." She eyed him as he walked to the back of the SUV and took her lone back out and draped it over his shoulder before walking up the path towards the home. Mitchie narrowed her eyes, feeling weird about walking into a home filled with people she didn't know and didn't care to know.

"Come on, Mitchie. It's okay." Denise reassured and for some reason, Mitchie listened. It might have been stupid to, but she had nothing to lose. Crossing her arms over her chest, she took a breath and marched up the path behind Paul and into the warm house. When she stepped in, she realized it wasn't a house. It wasn't a place someone came back to just to sleep or drown your sorrows in alcohol. It was a home. It was where a family lived. A real family. It was very warm and welcoming, and Mitchie didn't think she'd ever get that feeling from just being in a place, didn't think that type of feeling even existed.

It wasn't overly spacious, there was plenty of room. But it also had that homey feel to it. Warm lights lit up the rooms, candles were scattered around so it gave the rooms a pretty smell. Definitely a contrast to the drugs and alcohol Mitchie's old place smelled like. It was nice and...comforting. Not that she would admit it. Ever.

She didn't have much time to look around as Paul led her up a staircase to where she assumed all the bedrooms were. There were six doors, three on each side, but only two were open. One being a small bathroom, and the other one was where Paul led Mitchie into, the third door on the right.

"This used to be our guest room, but it's your room now. We always let the boys do whatever they wanted to their rooms, so we didn't really do much to it. Figured you might wanna do some of it yourself."

"It's fine." She muttered. She never cared what her room looked like. It was just for sleeping. She spent most of her time elsewhere.

Paul just nodded his head. "Well, I guess I'll let you unpack, get your bearings together. Nate should be home from school soon. And Shane and Jason will be around tonight for dinner, Jason will probably bring Danielle along with him so you can meet everybody."

Mitchie just nodded, and crossed her arms over her chest, wincing slightly when her shoulder ached in protest. Paul noticed.

"Denise said you might need some pain meds. I'm sure she has them if you need to some."

Mitchie just shrugged, making her shoulder ache yet again. "I'm fine."

"Alright, well, come down if you need anything." And then he left, leaving the door wide open. At least he didn't linger or hover around her or anything. He understood when she needed space, and he gave it to her. Her resentment toward him died down just a little bit.

She sighed and shut the door, needing her own space. It'd be her first time truly alone in days, nearly a week since the drive-by. She had never been that close to dying before. And part of her wished that she would have. She had no idea what was waiting for her when she died, but she assumed that it had to be better than what her life had been. Nothing could be worse than that.

She yanked up her bag that Paul had carried in and immediately dumped the contents out of it and onto the bed. There was nothing but a few pairs of clothes and a hairbrush plus a cd that Dylan had made for her before he left. She never had much use for cd's, she couldn't afford anything to play them on. She had gotten away with stealing a crappy cd player from some stupid retail store, and that was the only thing she used, but Brian had ended up breaking it and that was the end of that.

After shoving her clothes into the drawers the Gray's had emptied out for her, she sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the room.

What the hell was she doing here? Why wasn't she back in Baltimore, smoking or drinking, or hanging out with Brian and his crew like she usually did? Because the last time she did that she ended up bleeding in a back alley with three bullets in her. She knew that her life would always be in danger if she wasn't careful, but that was the first time she had been as close to death as she was. And frankly, the thought of it happening again scared the shit out of her. Brian couldn't always protect her. Especially the times when he was so high or stoned he didn't know up from down.

But still, something about this didn't sit right with her. It felt like she was running away. Her mother didn't put up much of a fight when Denise asked for custody, her mom didn't give two shits about Mitchie, and she probably never would. At least now Mitchie would never have to worry about finding her mom dead on the living room floor from a cocaine overdose or something. It had always been a possibility, but now it was just someone elses problem. At least now Mitchie had a bed that didn't smell of drugs or sex. It smelled fresh and clean. A scent she had never come across before. It was refreshing.

But then she heard the door downstairs open and the sounds of a dog barking, greeting whoever had entered.

Huh. No one ever mentioned anything about a dog, Mitchie thought. She had never had a dog before. Obviously. Who would take care of it? She had always wondered what it would be like to have a dog, the thought had always appealed to her.

She assumed that Nate had been the one to come home which got the dog all riled up. She knew she should probably go downstairs and meet him, but then again, why the hell would she do that? She wasn't too thrilled to ever meet anyone knew. If he wanted to meet her he'd haul his ass upstairs and come to her first.

She froze when she heard a knock on the door.

Well, damn it all to hell. Who knew he'd actually have the guts to do it?

"Yeah?" She called out, wanting to get it over with.

The door cracked open and a boy, who was obviously around her age slid through the opening with a friendly smile on his face, much similar to his dad's.

"Hey, I'm Nate." Then it hit Mitchie that he didn't look like the dweeb she had first thought him to be. He actually wasn't too terrible to look at, with short, curly hair and fairly tanned skin, and pretty brown eyes that shined whenever he smiled.

Interesting. Now she was kind of curious to meet his brothers. Maybe they were as handsome as he was.

"Mitchie." She responded.

"Nice to meet you, Mitchie. Just thought I'd come up and say hi." He blushed slightly, obviously a little shy. Mitchie smirked.

"Whatever." He blushed again and avoided her gaze.

She wondered why he was being so shy. Unless that was just his usual attitude with new people. But then he glanced back up at her, just shy if his gaze landing on her chin. She glanced down and finally realized what his problem was. She was wearing nothing but a a tank top that was a little too small and a tight pair of jeans. She smirked. She knew she was hot, that was the main thing that had kept Brian around for so long. She was getting a crack out of watching the boy that was going to become her roommate try not to stare. But then she wondered if he was just staring at the bandage on her shoulder from the gunshot wound. Probably both.

"So," He cleared his throat. "You like the room?"

"It's alright." She didn't mention the part that any place was better than where she was from. He didn't need to know that.

He just nodded his head and was silent again. Mitchie stared him down, she didn't want him just standing there. He was nice, albeit a little shy and somewhat weird, but she didn't want him hovering. She hated that.

"Nate!" Came Paul's voice from downstairs. "Come feed your dog!"

Nate sighed and smiled slightly. "Um...my room's right across the hall, so if you need something feel free to ask."

Mitchie just crossed her arms across her chest. Nate took the hint and left, shutting the door behind him.

Mitchie sighed out in relief at the aspect of being alone again. She hated being around so many people when she was as clean and sober as she was. She wondered how hard it would be to get any alcohol or drugs around this place. There had to someone who had connections, and if anyone could find that person, it was Mitchie. She would just have to make sure that Denise or Paul could never find out. That would not work out in her favor, that was for sure. She'd be sent right back where she came from. Not that it mattered. She would find some way to get into trouble anyways, whether it had something to do with illegal drugs or not. She was really good when it came to finding trouble. But she had a feeling that it wouldn't be easy as it was in Baltimore. She'd figure something out. She always did.

Suddenly feeling overwhelmed with exhaustion, she had slept like shit in the hospital, she laid down on the soft bed and was asleep almost instantly.

Three hours later, Mitchie shot up, gasping for air, coming out of that nightmare in a cold sweat. She pushed the visions of her dream out of her mind, forced them away, wanting them to never enter her brain again. Block them out. It was the only thing she could do to get past it. She gulped in the much needed air and distracted herself by looking out the window of her new bedroom. It was completely dark out by now. She glanced around the room until she found the digital clock sitting on the nightstand, telling her it was nearly seven-thirty at night. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing nerves and heart. The nightmares came regularly, which was why she was never one for naps unless she had been awake longer than she had thought and she was walking around like a zombie.

She used the back of her arm to wipe the sweat off her forehead before placing her head in her hands, trying to get herself back under control. She hated the nightmares. She would happily die just to get away from them.

Trying to get her mind off the dreams, she listened to see if any of the Gray's were moving around downstairs, and that's when she heard the voices she didn't recognize. Another woman's laughing, one that didn't belong to Denise, and then another male voice that wasn't Nate's or Paul's. One of the other Gray boys must have shown up.

She sure as hell wasn't going downstairs though, she was tired of meeting people. She so badly wanted a joint, but she wouldn't be able to find one stuck in that room. Would she be able to sneak out? She climbed off the bed and looked out the window, smirking when she saw a tree right outside her window. It wasn't that far of a jump, she could make it to the tree and climb the rest of the way down. But how to do that without getting caught, she had no idea. Yet. She'd figure it out. She'd have to wait until all the Gray's were asleep though. She was sure it wouldn't take them too long.

Another knock sounded on her door, and she sighed in exasperation. She was never gonna sneak out if they were checking up on her ever hour. "Yeah?" She called out, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.

Denise popped her head in and gave her a smile.

"Shane and Jason just got here. Dinner will be ready soon, if you're hungry."

Mitchie felt her stomach twist in protest. She never had much of an appetite after waking up from the dream she just had.

"Um...actually, I'm not all that hungry."

Denise seemed concerned, but didn't argue.

"Okay, but if you change your mind, just come down. I'll save some for you just in case."

Mitchie just nodded, and sighed in relief once the door closed again. This was too weird. She wasn't used to people caring about whether she was fed or not. Her mom had never been one to keep food around, so Mitchie usually went hungry unless she felt like lifting something from the grocery store or some retail place that sold candy bars and snacks and shit. She never had that much money or anything. And she had only been busted for stealing a couple of times. No one ever really cared, people did it so much around that part of town that people stopped caring, the business owners who did care didn't have anything to worry about. Most everyone who stole just went to the places that didn't give a shit. If they were desperate maybe they'd go to the more enforced places, but there was hardly ever a need for that, and it was a real pain in the ass when the owners caught you and called the cops.

But now she wouldn't have to be worried about getting busted, there would be food waiting for her. It was still strange. Someone caring. Or at least trying to care. They didn't know her well enough to give too much of a damn.

But at the moment she wasn't hungry enough to be grateful. All she wanted was something that could loosen the knots in her stomach. She knew exactly what she wanted, but she had no idea on how the hell to get it. She needed to get out of that house. She felt like she was trapped. She couldn't stand this anymore. She needed to do something.

Desperate, she shoved her shoes on and forced the window open. She took a deep breath before climbing out and jumping the distance towards the tree. She grabbed on and released a breath, making sure that she was safe and wasn't about to get caught. The tree was in the Gray's backyard, but it was off the to the far side in the darkness, so Mitchie knew she was safe for the moment. And with that reassurance, she climbed down the rest of the way until her feet were safely on the ground.

It was easy enough to sneak out of the gate. She knew they would be in the dining room on the other side of the house that she had seen when she first stepped in. Now she was free, of course she would have to come back. She wasn't a complete bitch. She just needed to get away. It was all too much to her at the moment and she wanted a fucking release. And she would get one no matter what she had to do.

She didn't know where the hell she was going, but she just started walking. Maybe she would run into somebody. She didn't have her fake i.d. on her, she didn't want Denise finding it and tearing it up or something, but she might as well have seeing as either way she was stuck without it. Bars were probably the best places to go to find some of the stuff that she so desperately craved. Maybe she could sneak her way into one. She had to find one first. She was stuck in nothing but neighborhoods. She had sure to keep up with where she was going so she could find her way back, she was pretty good at finding her way around though, so she wasn't worrying too much, but still, she had to be careful. It was a new place and she didn't know how it worked, and she didn't want to start finding things out the hard way.

Her need for some sort of drug or alcohol was becoming unbearable, and she knew she had to find something or she was going to explode or something along those lines. It was driving her mad.

But then she stopped walking when she heard the sound of wave crashing, she turned and realized she had wandered off toward a beach and an endless body of water. She had never seen the Atlantic Ocean before. She had never gotten too far out of her side of Baltimore to ever try and find it.

She found herself crossing the street and making her way towards the beach so she could watch the waves crash right in front of her. It was nighttime, so obviously it was hard to make out much of anything, but she didn't care, she liked the sound of it. It was intense, and was almost mimicking exactly how she felt. Like she was being thrown around and on an endless wave of turmoil. It nearly made her want to cry, but she fought back the urge. Crying showed weakness. And that was the last thing she needed to do.

She didn't know how long she sat out there, but it felt like a short time later when she felt a presence come closer to her. She tensed up, poised to fight whoever chose to attack her.

"Mitchie, right?" A soft voice asked and her muscles relaxed. She glanced behind her to see who was behind her, but found that it was so dark she could barely make out much of him, especially because he was still standing a few feet away and she couldn't get a good look at his face.

"Yeah." She said, wondering how this person knew who she was. The only people who knew her were the Gray's, and that definitely wasn't Nate or Paul's voice.

"Glad I found you. My mom got worried when she went into your room and found you weren't there."

Mitchie scrunched her eyebrows together. So this guy had to be at the Gray's when she had snuck out. Could it be one of the other Gray boys?

"Yeah, so?"

"So? She sent us all out on a search party looking for you. She doesn't like to worry."

"Yeah, and you are?" She heard him let out a soft chuckle that sent a shiver straight down her spine. She ignored it.

"Sorry. I'm Shane. Probably should have started with that."

Mitchie nodded, but didn't say anything more. She didn't know what to think about Denise sending her family out to look for her. It was stupid that she cared so damn much.

"So, why'd you sneak out? Running away?" Shane asked as he sat down on the sand next to her.

"No," She snapped defensively. "I was gonna come back."

Shane chuckled again. "Ya know, typically when people leave the house and plan on coming back, they use the front door. It would have saved you a lot of trouble."

Mitchie scoffed. "Whatever. I wouldn't have been allowed to go out anyway."

"What makes you say that? That my parents would lock you up forever."

"No. Because of where I was going." She snapped.

"And you think you'd get in trouble for coming to the beach?"

"I wasn't going to the beach. I got distracted." She was quickly getting fed up with this guy. He was annoying as shit.

"Okay. So where were you going?"

"It's none of your fucking business!" She snapped, pushing herself up off the sand and stalking away from him.

She didn't count on him following her. "Hey, wait!" It didn't take him long to catch up with her, and when he did, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. On instinct, and everything she had been taught how to do growing up, she whipped around and shoved him back with all her strength. Shane fell to the sand with a thud and a grunt.

Mitchie scowled down at him, not feeling an ounce of guilt. If he didn't want that to happen, he should have just left her the hell alone.

But he caught her off guard when he let out a breathless chuckle and pushed himself back up to his feet. "Jesus, you're strong."

"Then I suggest you stay the hell away from before I beat the shit out of you."

He chuckled again. "Calm down, would ya? I'm not here to try and lock you up in prison. Look just come back to the house before my mom freaks out even more."

"I'll go back when I feel like it." She glared at him through the darkness. Her eyes finally took the time to adjust, and when they did she finally saw Shane Gray for the first time. He was tall, that much was obvious, and she must have been stronger than she thought for being able to shove him down as easily as she had. She noticed the twinkle in his eyes and realized he was more amused than anything, and that irritated her to no fucking end. He had short hair that was spiked slightly down the middle, and a small amount of stubble. And a small smile played on his lips.

Mitchie wasn't gonna lie, Shane Gray was fucking hot.

But her irritation caused her to not give a shit about his looks.

"Or, you could come back now and save my mom a panic attack."

"Why the fuck does she even care?" She snapped.

He paused. "Because that's who she is, and you're just gonna have to get used to it. She cares about you too, now."

Mitchie froze, not expecting him to say something like that.

"Now come on, I'll give you a ride back."

Mitchie was tired of arguing, so she finally resigned and followed Shane back to his car. Once back in the streetlight, she saw Shane more clearly, and he was even hotter than he looked in the dark. And she thought Brian had been hot. He had nothing on Shane.

When he gestured to his car she couldn't help but roll her eyes. A fucking Hummer. Of course.

She shook her head and climbed into the passenger seat and crossed her arms across her chest, subconciously hiding the scars on her wrists and up her arm. She wasn't sure how much the Gray's knew about her past, but she sure as hell wasn't going to go flaunting it. She didn't need people looking down on her.

"Seatbelt." Shane said as he climbed into the driver's side.

"Excuse me?"

Shane smirked. "Put your seatbelt on."

Mitchie narrowed her eyes at his handsome. "What are you, the fucking police?"

"No, but I'd hate to get pulled over by one. I have a spotless ticket record."

She scoffed and shook her head. "Shit, of course you do." But she tugged her seatbelt on anyways. Once he was satisfied that she was buckled up, he started the car and pulled back onto the road.

"How'd you know it was me?" She asked him after a moment. "How'd you know it was me that was sitting on the beach."

He chuckled lightly. "Not too many people around here have a bandage wrapped around their entire shoulder."

He had a point.

"Does it hurt?" He asked after another brief silence.

"Does what hurt?"

"Getting shot. How bad does it hurt?"

Mitchie scoffed. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Just curious."

She sighed. "Hurts pretty fucking bad."

He didn't say anything for another moment. "How'd it happen. Who shot you in the shoulder?"

"I dunno. Some rival gang."

His eyebrows shot up. "You were in a gang?"

"No." She told him. "But my boyfriend was. Is. Whatever. I guess I don't even know if he's alive or not."

"What happened?"

"Drive-by. They happened all the time, but you sure as hell didn't wanna get caught in the middle of one. Obviously, I've learned that the hard way."

"So you're shoulder got the worst of the damage?"

Mitchie scoffed and shook her head before turning to look at him to see if he was serious. He was. "Did your mom not tell you anything?"

"She told us you were shot, and from the bandage I just assumed it was your shoulder."

"I guess that's all you need to know then." She told him.

"You're not gonna tell me the rest?"

"Why should I?"

Shane just chuckled. "I guess you're right."

But she did want to tell him. She didn't know why, but she wanted to tell him everything. She couldn't thought, obviously that would be dangerous. And she would hate to scare such a hot guy away from before she could have any fun with him. Yeah, it was probably best to keep her past away from him and anyone else she encountered. It would just cause trouble.

Hope you enjoyed! I have plenty of ideas for later on, so I really need some feedback!